I’ve been shooting fabulous cloisonné enamel work made by Julie Holmes. Here’s how she describes her inspiration and process:
“I am inspired by all things fun, whimsical and colorful. I don’t like to use pre-planned designs. I prefer to sit down with a prepared base and some wire and see how the wire wants to bend and what shows up. That’s exactly the kind of statement I used to scoff at when I heard artists say those “artsy fartsy” things. But it’s true. I think when you find your medium, it speaks for itself, through you, not necessarily from you. I like my pieces to tell a story.
I use primarily Japanese leaded enamels for their brilliant colors, consistency and smooth even flow. I love using 24kt gold cloisonné wire since some colors react poorly with silver and will turn cloudy or muddy, but in today’s economy I have switched to fine silver and have learned to love it, too. Lately I am having fun incorporating words into my settings and playing with patinas. I will be taking a silver metal clay class with Jonna Faulkner next week and I’m very excited to see how it expands my options for design. Cloisonné allows me the full range of expression that I crave.”
We think her work already is amazing, and can’t wait to see what happens when she starts combining metal clay with the cloisonné at which she excels so wonderfully.
These pieces were shot in my Escondido studio with a Nikon D300 camera, Nikkor 85mm micro lens and softbox tungsten lights.
These are gorgeous!! Love them!!
Thanks Lauren! Julie’s work is really lovely. I’ve said this before, but it remains true…the thing I enjoy the most about what I do is getting to see (and document) such gorgeous work. steve
Steve, Julie’s work is beautiful as well as the photography. I am sure you don’t remember but I took your class back in February. I was recently asked to submit photos for an online magazine. I thought the tips you gave in your class yielded good results, perhaps not as well as a professional but they definitely did the job. Thanks so much.
Check out the pics in “Keel Magazine”. links to pages are at
http://www.mariabelledesigns.wordpress.com
Karen Olson
I absolutely do remember you, Karen. So pleased to hear that info from the class helped. Thanks for letting me know. I went to your WordPress blog. The piece is gorgeous, and the photo is terrific. Congrats on the article. Your work in the magazine (pgs 155-6) was excellent! Best – steve
One more note that I meant to add to the post. Julie’s work can be seen on her website: http://www.zenamels.com/ and at her Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zenamels/. Check out her work! It’s gorgeous. Steve
Love this work. Good design skills and use of color. How about doing some dogs for our Art for Barks nonprofit. Lynn Moon
Hey Lynn – Good idea. I’ll talk with Julie about it. s.